Modern planetary automatic transmissions have relatively complex and flexible architectures in order to provide a wide variety of speed ratios in an overall compact arrangement with a minimal number of components. In order to achieve a large number of speed ratios, many transmissions include features which allow for selective decoupling of certain transmission components. This functionality may be provided by supporting planetary ring gears or certain clutch elements on a single carrier hub. These carrier hubs are often referred to as “ring gear carrier hubs” or “clutch carrier hubs” as they support their respective mating ring gears or clutch components. These carrier hubs are typically supported on opposite faces by thrust bearings which may support axial loads generated by a transmission component attached to the carrier hub (i.e., planetary ring gear) or thrust forces transmitted from mating parts through the carrier hub.
FIG. 1 illustrates a partial view of a prior art transmission 100 including a ring gear carrier hub 110. The ring gear carrier hub 110 supports a ring gear 120. A pair of thrust bearings 130, 140 are positioned in contact with opposing thrust faces of the ring gear carrier hub 110. The carrier hub 110 includes an inner end 150 adjacent to the thrust bearings 130, 140. Other existing carrier hubs may have a similar construction and may similarly support ring gears, clutch components, a combination of the two, or other transmission components.
Currently, it is necessary to assemble and install the thrust bearings and carrier hub individually (i.e., the bearings are installed in the transmission separately from the carrier hub). This complicates the assembly process and can lead to misalignment of the parts and/or damage to the transmission. The need for thrust bearings on both thrust faces of the carrier hub further compounds these issues, making both assembly and guidance of the bearings a challenge during the overhead/inverted assembly process that is used for many transmission assemblies.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming these and other problems of the prior art.